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To be eligible for the Papa John's prize, you must bring
in your completed bracket (NCAA only - NIT brackets
are not included) to The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard
St., before the tournament begins Thursday morning.

E-mail

4

Your Name

Total Points in
Championship game

Phone

The first round games are worth one point, two in the second round, then three, four, five and 10 for the other rounds

4

No Michigan? No problem

- we've got East Rutherford

Admit it. Even though it wasn't listed on
any projected brackets, you were watching
the Selection Show last night hoping Michi-
gan would find a spot somewhere.
You had to have hope - especially when
North Carolina was shown as a No. 6 seed
in the Atlanta region (we'll get to the region
names in a minute). Come on! Michigan-
North Carolina! 1993 rematch!
But it wasn't to be.
What was to be was the complete disre-
spect of the Big Ten conference. Illinois, the
outright regular-season champion, landed a
No. 5 seed, while Wisconsin and Michigan
State grabbed No. 6 and No. 7 seeds,
respectively.
Wisconsin can't be too happy with the
seed, especially given that the Badgers beat
the Spartans like a rented mule this year,
going 3-0 against Michigan State, and then
won the Big Ten Tournament title.
The selection committee won't be receiv-
ing any fruit baskets from Pittsburgh in the
near future, either. After winning the Big
East and barely losing in its conference

tournament final to Connecticut, Pittsburgh they're ... Air Force.
was screwed out of a No. 2 seed. Then the People around the country will no doubt
committee smacked the Panthers upside the be huddled around their television sets to
head again by setting up a second-round see if Air Force can stay within 30 of North
matchup with Wisconsin ... in Milwaukee. Carolina. Yeah, yeah, that's why they play
Nice. the games, upsets happen, etc.
Speaking of stupid moves by Meanwhile, out in the
the committee: Who decided to East Rutherford region, St.
rename the regions? The East Joe's snuck out a No. 1
Rutherford region? The seed. That ought to be
Phoenix region? It's not exact- good enough to get them
ly inspiring visions of knocked out by Texas Tech
grandeur. First off, nothing or Charlotte in the second
should be the "East Ruther- round. Florida grabbed a
ford" anything. Was it really No. 5 seed and a matchup
that difficult to have the Mid- with Manhattan. The win-
west and Southeast regions? ner of that game will take
Anyway, the Atlanta region on whoever is victorious in
appears to be far and away the the Wake Forest-VCU.
most difficult right now. Duke, VCU, in case you're won-
Mississippi State, Texas, North Carolina, dering, is Virginia Commonwealth, we
Cincinnati, Illinois, Arizona, Air Force. Oh, think. It might be Very Cool University ...
wait. AIR FORCE? The Falcons RPI wound or Victory City University ... or Vanilla
up in the 70s, they got bounced in the first Coke University. Who knows? Or cares?
round of their conference tournament and There are some intriguing matchups in the

St. Louis region, including Michigan State-
Nevada. The Wolfpack romped Kansas earli-
er this year, so they're no pushover. And
Michigan State beat ... um ... DePaul and
... Michigan and Bucknell.
The winner of that one will likely take on
Gonzaga, which landed a No. 2 seed and a
game with Valparaiso in what will from
here on be referred to as the "Cinderella
Bowl." Gonzaga's going to be playing in
Seattle, so it's basically a home game for
the Bulldogs. It's also a rough trip out west
for the Spartans. I know everyone in Ann
Arbor is devastated.
Kentucky's up top in the St. Louis region,
playing the winner of the play-in game
between Lehigh and Florida A&M. Nothing
says March Madness like Lehigh-Florida
A&M on Tuesday in Dayton.
And that's what we call a lead-in. Dayton
(the team, not the city), stole an at-large bid
and will battle DePaul in the No. 7-No. 10
game in the Phoenix region. The winner gets
Connecticut in the second round after the
Huskies beat Vermont. Sleeper in the

Phoenix region? Western Michigan, which
might be the best team in the state.
The Broncos drew Vanderbilt in the first
round. The Commodores are led by forward
Matt Freije and there's probably some other
guys on the team - no one knows who they
are, though. Playing the Vandy-Western
Michigan winner is the N.C. State-Louisiana
Lafayette winner. Could be a tough draw for
the Broncos, but at least they get to spend a
weekend in Orlando (Yes, Orlando is in the
Phoenix region).
There are plenty of interesting ballgames
to watch on Thursday and Friday when
you're skipping class (Note: Skipping class
is not condoned by The Michigan Daily)
(Note: The prior statement is a lie).
So there it is: Selection Sunday is over,
Michigan is headed for the NIT and March
Madness is upon us. It's the happiest time of
year for college basketball fans - not
Michigan fans right now, but you'll get over
it. If not, you can always head out for a
weekend of basketball in majestic East
Rutherford.

4

2004 POSTSEASON NIT

4

Drexel (18-10)
Villanova (16-16)
G. Washington (18-1

1)

The final two rounds will be
played in Madison Square
Garden in New York